1999 Formula One World Championship
The 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 53rd season of Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Formula One motor racing. It commenced on 7 March and ended on 31 October after sixteen races. Drivers and constructors † All engines were 3.0 litre, V10 configuration. Team changes The Mecachrome engines used by Williams in 1998 were rebadged as Supertec units. After three decades in the sport, the Tyrrell team was sold to British American Tobacco and renamed British American Racing (BAR), with Supertec engines replacing the Ford-Cosworth units of the previous season. Goodyear, who had supplied Williams, Ferrari, Jordan, Sauber and Tyrrell throughout 1998, left Formula One at the end of the season, leaving Bridgestone as the only tyre supplier. The grooved tyres introduced in 1998 now had four grooves on all tyres; the front tyres previously had three. Wheels also were required to be tethered to the chassis in order to prevent them flying off in a crash. Driver changes Williams entered the season with an all-new driver pairing. Ralf Schumacher, who had driven for Jordan in 1998, switched to Williams for the new season, and was partnered with Alex Zanardi, whose last stint in Formula One, for Lotus, had ended at the end of the 1994 season. In the meantime, the Italian had won the 1997 and 1998 CART titles for Chip Ganassi Racing. Heinz-Harald Frentzen completed a straight swap with the younger Schumacher, taking the vacant seat at Jordan alongside 1996 champion Damon Hill. Frentzen's 1998 teammate, the 1997 World Drivers' Champion Jacques Villeneuve, moved to the newly founded BAR team, who also utilised a completely new lineup. Villeneuve was partnered with the 1998 McLaren test driver and FIA GT1 champion Ricardo Zonta, one of four rookies on the grid at the beginning of the season. 1998 Tyrrell driver Ricardo Rosset retired from racing after leaving the team at the end of the season, while his teammate, Toranosuke Takagi competed for Arrows in 1999, where he was joined by Jordan's test driver from the previous season, Pedro de la Rosa, who also made his debut at the first race of the season. Pedro Diniz left Arrows to sign for Sauber. Diniz' teammate from 1998, Mika Salo was left without a full-time drive for 1999. Diniz was paired up with young Estonian rookie Risto Reiljan, the reigning Italian Formula 3000 champion. Johnny Herbert, whose Sauber seat was taken by Diniz, joined Rubens Barichello at Stewart. The two drivers who had filled Stewart's second seat in 1998 were both absent from the Formula One grid in 1999: Jan Magnussen moved to the American Le Mans Series, while Jos Verstappen became the test driver for the aborted Honda F1 project. Minardi also fielded a completely new driver pairing: Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer, who had been absent from the grid since the collapse of Forti midway through the 1996 season, drove alongside the fourth rookie driver, Marc Gené, who was the reigning Open Fortuna by Nissan champion. Shinji Nakano, who drove for Minardi in 1998, tested occasionally for Jordan in 1999, while his teammate, Esteban Tuero, who was also surplus to requirements at the Italian team, left Formula One to join the Argentinian TC 2000 Championship. World Championship race calendar The 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship comprised the following 16 races. Calendar changes * The Malaysian Grand Prix was added to the calendar, held at a newly built circuit in Sepang. * The Argentine Grand Prix was scheduled to be held at the Autódromo Juan y Oscar Gálvez as the second round of the season, but was cancelled because of disagreements between the organizer and the commercial rights holder, resulting in a five-week gap between the year's opening two races. Results and standings Grands Prix World Drivers' Championship standings | Bold – Pole |} † Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance. Drivers' Championship points were awarded on a 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 basis for the first ten places at each race. Where two or more drivers scored the same number of points, their positions in the Drivers' Championship were fixed according to the quality of their places. Under this system, one first place was better than any number of second places, one second place was better than any number of third places, etc. For drivers with 1 point or 0 points, one eleventh place was better than any number of twelfth places, etc. World Constructors' Championship standings Constructors' Championship points were awarded on a 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 basis for the first ten places at each race. Where two or more constructors scored the same number of points, their positions in the Constructors' Championship were fixed according to the quality of their places. Under this system, one first place was better than any number of second places, one second place was better than any number of third places, etc. For constructors with 1 point or 0 points, one elevnth place was better than any number of twelfth places, etc.